News

Edgewood Shopping Center secures grocer

Family-run business to focus on local, organic produce

Mustafa Mutlu, owner of the Crystal Springs Produce market in San Mateo, places cherries onto the front facing produce display on June 28, 2017. Mutlu will be opening a second location in the former grocery space occupied by The Fresh Market at Edgewood Plaza. Photo by Veronica Weber.

By this fall, the vacant grocery store at Palo Alto's Edgewood Plaza Shopping Center will again be filled, two years and three months since The Fresh Market suddenly closed its store.

Landlord Sand Hill Property Company announced the deal on Tuesday, capping a search for a replacement grocer that was fraught with lawsuits, vocal criticism from shopping center neighbors, thousands of dollars in city fines over the vacancy, discussions with more than 70 grocery companies and more than a few false hopes.

The new grocery operators will be a couple that runs Crystal Springs Produce in San Mateo, Mustafa and Kyazi Mutlu. The 20,600-square-foot Edgewood building at 2170 W. Bayshore Road will be their business' second location.

A name for the market has not yet been identified, said Matt Larson, spokesman for Sand Hill.

Both companies expressed enthusiasm this week about their new partnership.

"We couldn't be more excited to open our new location in this wonderful community. We ... couldn't think of a better location for our expansion. We believe Palo Alto is a perfect location for carrying the local and organic offerings that we are so passionate about. We love Palo Alto and the people we know here, so this is an exciting opportunity for us," Mustafa Mutlu stated in a press release.

"We are thrilled to have found such a great partner for this space," John Tze of Sand Hill Property Company stated. "Mustafa and his family run a very popular location in San Mateo, and I'm confident a grocery store under their adept ownership will be a great fit for Edgewood and its surrounding neighborhoods."

Sand Hill has put up $300,000 in financing to facilitate reopening the grocery store, of which the Mutlus are beneficiaries, according to the company.

The agreement was signed last week, Larson said. It capped a nine-month negotiation with the Mutlus, who are originally from Bulgaria and immigrated to the U.S. in 1990.

Complicating the process, Sand Hill has previously stated, was The Fresh Market's retention of the lease, even though the business had moved out, and the deal needed to include The Fresh Market. Under the agreement, Crystal Springs will sublease the Edgewood space through 2023 under the terms of the Fresh Market lease, Larson said.

The Mutlus established their store in San Mateo by transforming a vacant sandwich shop. Crystal Springs Produce has received a five-star Yelp rating from 146 out of 154 reviewers who extol its fresh produce from local sources and reasonable prices. The store has been in operation for seven years and carries cheeses, dairy, fresh-baked breads and other items. It specializes in local and organic produce, according to the market's website.

Reached by phone on Wednesday, Mustafa Mutlu said he expects the Edgewood store, in addition to offering fresh produce, will sell meat, have a bakery, make sandwiches, and, if a permit comes through, offer a selection of wines. He expects to gradually hire 30 to 40 people. The store will be open daily, but not 24 hours a day.

Mutlu said the business does not plan to make major renovations to the existing interior.

Larson said that the opening depends on factors not in the Mutlus' and Sand Hill's full control, namely permitting from the city and Santa Clara County Public Health department inspections.

Sand Hill has had to pay more than $700,000 in penalties to the City of Palo Alto for not maintaining a viable grocery store in the spot, which the city claims is a violation of its planned community ordinance for the development. Sand Hill and its business entity for the project, Edgewood LLC, dispute that the ordinance requires the landlord to provide anything beyond the space for a grocery store. The company has said it has been hampered by constraints in a 10-year lease with Fresh Market that gives the southeastern grocer the right to sublet the property. Sand Hill sought to have a large portion of the penalties vacated or at least reduced at an administrative hearing, but an April 2 ruling went against the company.

On June 12, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Stoelker denied the developer's appeal to stay the now daily $5,000 fines while the company argues before the court to reverse the administrative ruling and to determine that Sand Hill is not required to ensure the continuous operation of a grocery store on the site. But Stoelker ruled that the case was not ripe for his hearing. Sand Hill should first use Palo Alto's legal process for suspending penalties during an appeal before it can again return to the judge if the city denies the developer's request for a stay, he said.

Larson said that Sand Hill and Edgewood LLC, which filed the appeal, do not have any comment on the status of the litigation at this time.

Jeff Levinsky, Carla Carvalho and Lenore Cymes, residents who advocated for the City of Palo Alto to pressure Sand Hill to find a new grocer, expressed in a statement Wednesday their pleasure over the new grocer and thanked those who put pressure on the company.

Upon hearing the news of the new grocer, Edgewood neighbor Greg Brail said he and his family shopped at The Fresh Market at least once a week and they plan to do the same at the new store. The community has missed having a local supermarket, he said, adding that he hopes the grocery store will sell sandwiches and be a place his family can go for lunch.

Business owners and managers at the shopping center were divided in their opinions over whether the lack of a market has harmed business.

Steve Stivala, manager at House of Bagels, said he likes the idea of what the new market will bring.

"It sounds fantastic," he said.

But with or without a grocer, the shopping center has done very well, he said, as a line at nearby Starbucks stretched out the door.

Although Stivala has heard some people say that the lack of a grocery store is a setback, he disagrees.

"It's not a disaster," he said, noting the mix of stores attracts people and the look and feel of the Eichler development's restoration have served the community well.

"What I see without any biases is that Sand Hill did a very, very good job," he said.

Stivala is concerned that parking might be inadequate, however. He suspects that some of the spaces are currently used by commuters who park there all day but work elsewhere. If signage goes up or an attendant discourages that kind of use, there might be adequate parking, he said. One day last week one of his employees saw a construction truck drive up and deposit six workers, who promptly went to their individual cars parked in the center's lot at the end of the day, he said.

Elements Massage owner Mahshid Parsi said she hopes the market will be good for business.

"Our walk-in business dropped considerably and it never picked up after Fresh Market left. The business is going well with memberships, but I hope we will have more walk-ins," she said.

Supercuts patron Maria Arne said that she "cannot put into words" how glad she is a new grocery store will open.

"You don't know what it's like to have to travel so far for groceries. It is highly needed," she said, noting that there is no place nearby to easily pick up a few last-minute items.

Others who shopped at The Fresh Market said they are excited to have a small grocer in the spot even if it doesn't offer all of the items one would find at a Safeway or Lucky grocery store.

Posted by Resident
a resident of Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Jun 27, 2017 at 5:24 pm

Excellent! I am so excited. Sounds like a perfect fit. Fresh Market sort of missed the mark in the area by having to many isles of bulk candy, all salads had loads of cheese on them, and even when it was a new market I found yucky expired soup on the shelves. I personally will do what I can to support this new market and I wish them the best. I will do my best to walk instead of drive when possible, but I do hope that shopping center starts to tow cars that are there to carpool, that would help a lot.

Posted by awesome!
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jun 27, 2017 at 5:39 pm

parking problem is hopefully easy to solve.. Post 60 minute max parking signs and give tickets. Parking was not a problem when Fresh Market was there. The carpoolers saw a void and filled it (can't blame them) but this needs to stop.

Posted by Anonymous
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jun 27, 2017 at 5:54 pm

I look forward to walking over to the store!
If I buy a lot at the grocery, I will have to drive.
Now the time has come for those taking advantage of the parking lot as a "park n ride," etc. to quit their opportunistic practice, which started with the vacamcy of a grocer at the center.
The parking lot should resume being for those patronizing the Edgewood Center.
No overflow from the gas station, commuters, those who reside in the houses adjacent, whuch were built by the re-
Developer of Edgewood Center at great profit.

Posted by Nearby Resident
a resident of Jordan Middle School
on Jun 27, 2017 at 6:02 pm

So this will be like Milk Pail but cleaner? Yes! Milk Pail must be losing business because their parking lot is oftentimes full so I can't shop there. I don't know if this place can match Milk Pail prices, but still probably better than Piazza prices. If it's mainly a produce store, the turnover in shoppers will probably be fairly quick.

Miss the great meat from Fresh Market, but this will be nice. Safeway meats have actually improved so I don't always have to drive to Piazza's.

Posted by Shame on them
a resident of Community Center
on Jun 27, 2017 at 7:17 pm

John- I think the owner was looking for a store all along. tough to find a tenant for ant undersized store in palo alto. now will come the real treat - will the neighbors who complained so much actually support the store. The yelp reviews are mentioned in the story
Mama- this store is private property. I am not sure the city police can enforce parking violations.

Posted by Nearby Resident
a resident of Jordan Middle School
on Jun 27, 2017 at 9:27 pm

The carpoolers will likely start parking on neighborhood streets. If they are Stanford or downtown employees, it's still beneficial to carpool because they only have to find one parking spot at their destination. More parking signs will be needed in that area, or perhaps, all over town. They could park basically anywhere, except in the neighborhoods that have permit requirements.

Posted by musical
a resident of Palo Verde
on Jun 27, 2017 at 10:02 pm

We've all seen "Customer Parking Only" signs. When your car is missing they suggest phoning PAPD at 329-2413 or Ellison's. Private property is enforced by PAPD as drivers find out quickly when parked without a handicap placard in a code-mandated blue spot, but it may be only when complaint-driven. If some stranger has parked in your home's private driveway, I think you're supposed to call the police rather than the towing company directly.

There is very little street or off-street parking available on the other side of 101.

Posted by musical
a resident of Palo Verde
on Jun 27, 2017 at 10:21 pm

I should clarify that last sentence of mine -- there are several hundred parking spots on the other side of 101, but they are generally all occupied. During business hours Embarcadero Road is parked solid almost to the far end. The Mings property has been leased to a car dealership, and likewise much of Palo Alto city-owned capacity by the airport.

Posted by musical
a resident of Palo Verde
on Jun 27, 2017 at 11:00 pm

We'll see how busy the golf course parking becomes when they reopen this fall. The current google maps aerial view (a random snapshot, pre-noon judging from the shadows) shows the lot about 25% occupied, just over 50 cars in the 205 spaces. The way those cars are parked, I'd venture half are on the driving range or in Bay Cafe, and the other half are airport related.

Granted it's sporadic, but I've seen many events in the Bay Cafe ballroom with over 100 attending. And they can accommodate another 100 inside and on the patio. It would make no sense to sacrifice flexibility at our few civic amenities on the altar of downtown or Stanford commuters.

wake up folks...@awesome - parking wasn't a problem back then because the ENTIRE plaza wasn't fully occupied by businesses yet...not just due to the market not being there. the idea of the plaza was to have a market in closer proximity to the residents in THAT area. fair to say that was a bust. let's see how things go.

let's fast forward. market fully running, carpoolers ousted. how about...let's have starbucks police their plaza patrons to not "camp" out for hours on end because of free wi-fi? and with the parking lot being so small, 7-8 cars of "CEOs" of their own software startup LLC DO take up a lot of space.

Or...that doesn't stop the couple who drives to the bagel shop, park their subaru, take their dog out, makes sure pup has water by interrupting another clients order, place their own bagel orders more complicated than picky starbucks patrons...and park their butts down for hours on end. all this while posting "tsk tsk tsk" comments about how it's a shame this plaza can't police itself and so forth while having no qualms about what they do because of their inflated sense of "entitlement". yes palo alto residents...you have done this to YOURSELVES. have fun sorting out this mess. *tsk tsk tsk*

Amazing how rapidly SandHill found a replacement grocery when the fines were increased. Really amazing.

They were drawing in a nice line of rental income from Fresh by simply keeping the store empty and doing nothing ... until the increased fines tipped the scales. And what do you know, they found a new grocer just-like-that. Quelle Surprise.

Kudos to the residents who kept fighting for the last 3 years and to the City who eventually lost patience and slapped on effective fines.

Posted by Shame on them
a resident of Community Center
on Jun 28, 2017 at 10:10 am

St. Francis-- i think sand hill has been looking for a grocer for years. You think an undersized store in palo alto is easy to rent out? Palo alto thinks that stores will flock to open here so they can be in palo alto? Hardly. Lets see how much support this store gets. Plus wait until the new owner gets entangled in the palo alto permit process.

@Shame on them - previous Fresh store was (a) profitable and (b) did not get entangled in any sort of Permit process.

There is no reason why this new store should have a different experience.

On previous articles on this matter, there have been a surprising number of commenters jumping to the defense of Sand Hill. Not quite sure why. Now I am as pro-business as anyone. But Sand Hill made millions out of developing that space and selling apartments, and then reneged on their half of the deal, instead pursuing a form of corporate squatting whereby Fresh were still paying them rent but the property was lying empty. The big losers here were the local residents. And the only party in all of this who broke their commitments were Sand Hill. Every other side kept up their end of the deal. That's not opinion, that's the findings of the court.

Posted by Take the Money and Run
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jun 28, 2017 at 10:52 am

@Shame on them - it was Sandhill who claimed it would be no problem to fill the grocery store if the city would just let them convert the parking lot behind it into 10 condos. That is until they sold the 10 condos for $30 million. Then all of a sudden it became impossible to find a replacement grocer, until the fines got too steep, then they found one immediately. You'll notice that Sandhill was actually willing to help this grocer out because of the fines instead of charging an increase for Andronica.

I will be shopping at the new grocer, just like I did the old one, which was meeting its financial plan and closed because they shut down the entire west coast, despite the Palo Alto store being successful.

This is great news, we will definitely be shopping there on a regular basis! The shopping center will have to post some kind of signs and monitor the lot. I predict there will be a call for 2 hour permit parking on the neighboring streets sometime down the road. Pretty much any neighborhood walking distance to the shuttle is fair game for commuters...

Posted by Gale Johnson
a resident of Adobe-Meadow
on Jun 28, 2017 at 11:34 am

I might try shopping there once just to see what they have to offer. I tend to be, however, a one stop grocery shopper and that's because I, like most Americans, drive to do their grocery shopping. I don't like having to go to a produce store, then a bakery, then a cheese shop, and then a butcher shop, fish market, or deli. That works well in Europe and I experienced that when we visited our son when he was in the Army and stationed in Germany. I loved that experience. Those shops were located right next to each other in villages, and people walked to them. And there was also a florist in the village next to those other shops. Those shops specialized in their product, and so it was of the highest quality. Big cities in this country also have their neighborhood shops, pretty much like Europe, but Palo Alto doesn't fit that pattern.

Didn't mean to sound so negative, and I hope they survive and thrive in that location.

Sounds like this grocery will be a larger version of the very popular Milk Pail grocery in Mountain View. 20,000 square feet should be plenty of space if they are focusing on fresh produce, not frozen or packaged goods like Safeway or Trader Joes. Milk Pail is smaller than that, isn't it?

Posted by Ha Ha
a resident of Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Jun 28, 2017 at 12:26 pm

No comment from anyone who has been to their Crystal Springs location. Been there; The Milk Pail it's not, and it's across from a Safeway. Far from the full service store Edgewood needs. They do not carry meat.

Posted by CrescentParkAnon.
a resident of Crescent Park
on Jun 28, 2017 at 2:45 pm

If things do not work out so rosy, and I am really rooting for this new place,
but if they do not ... is Sand Hill still on the hook to maintain a market in this
location, and if so, for how long? This is a good arrangement, the one thing
the City did right.

Hope for the best, but planning for the worst ... I support the fines for Sand
Hill. They should not have taken the deal for the short term money and signed
a long term commitment if they did not think it through, but what happens
if Palo Alto is stuck with a very long term empty store despite SH's fines and
best efforts. How long before a real and sensible rethinking of this location
can be and is done?

Looking back on this F-fiasco and the real lack of benefit it brings to the community,
how can the people of Palo Alto do better, to get the City Council to behave
competently, or to define and put in place some better or democratic means
to collect input on locations and allow appropriate development?

If I were King of Palo Alto I would have decided that this location cannot be home
to a large scale market unless the entire space is committed to it with sufficient
parking. I think of the design of Santana Row or the Safeway location in Mtn. View
for a model, or the Los Altos ( is it? ) Whole Foods with its ample underground parking.
Parking underneath, and perhaps on top, a large central market and perhaps condos
at the outside of the top for single. small working or retired families that do not intend
to live there forever but desires the convenience of walk-to service stores like
Starbucks, bagels, etc.

If something cannot be found to work and this current design is inappropriate,
I think the city is stuck because of the houses in this lot ... and that was an
intolerably bad decision it seems to me.

Posted by jim
a resident of Community Center
on Jun 28, 2017 at 3:04 pm

Wow, this store looks great. Any parking problems can be resolved by limiting time to 1 hour in the store area and no more than 3 hours anywhere in the lot. They can setup a machine that issues paper receipts for numbered spots with date and time but just not charge for the parking. Then any car without a receipt on dash or with expired receipt can be towed. City parking tickets on private property are not enforceable but towing is. Dated parking receipts with towing will eliminate daytime carpoolers.

Posted by ChrisC
a resident of College Terrace
on Jun 28, 2017 at 3:43 pm

Do you know that Palo Alto tickets parking violations on Stanford property? Yup, private, but Palo Alto just can't get enough of that parking violation money. They seem to be banking on parking fines and fees to finance the city, so why can't they ticket at Edgewood?

Posted by Know Weigh
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jun 28, 2017 at 4:18 pm

I hope that Sand Hill will put up signs-- and plenty of them-- that requisition several spaces for "grocery store
parking ONLY"; and a BIG sign that says " no park and ride parking, violators will be towed".

It would be great if Sand Hill would either provide more parking area or at least a security guard to enforce the parking ( and call the tow truck on violators)!

Posted by Hmmm
a resident of East Palo Alto
on Jun 29, 2017 at 12:30 pm

All day street parking is legal unless otherwise marked. All day working on private property without patronizing businesses isn't medal. Palo Altans - your streets can be used for carpoolers, just as the public streets in surrounding cities are used by carpoolers. With an incoming grocery store it makes sense to handle the parking lot issues before they open. It'll be great to have this amenity again.

Posted by MP Resident
a resident of Menlo Park
on Jun 29, 2017 at 1:54 pm

@Dennis, it may not be a chain you're used to, but EPA does very much have a grocery store. The Mi Pueblo near the Ikea has a pretty solid produce section, full service butcher / seafood counter, and plenty of dairy, packaged staples, and household items.

The prices are sane, the service is solid, what exactly is wrong with it?

>> Mi Pueblo is what is termed more of a "corner mart" instead of a full fledged grocery store.

Have you ever been there? Please tell me what you think it does not have. If I did not have to go over the freeway and the Palo Alto Safeway was a little farther away I'd shop at Mi Pueblo. It is huge and it has low cost items, plus it has ready food to go, if you like Mexican style stuff most of which is pretty good and very low cost. Not the Whole Foods Prepared Food Section, but about 1/4 the price. Mi Pueblo has more stuff than the Palo Alto Safeway and the checkers are faster too. The produce is generally very nice, though I don't really know where it comes from or what chemicals are on it. I don't know they do organic or not. Really, it sounds like you have never been there.

An organic market with a prepared food section like Whole Foods would have me shopping at this new Edgewood place almost every day.

Posted by OPar
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Jun 29, 2017 at 7:39 pm

Oh good. Given how much worse traffic has gotten, having a small grocery in walking distance is a huge plus.

So, carpoolers have been loading up the parking lot--I've been wondering why it was so crazy. Yeah,that needs to stop. Two-hour time limits that are enforced seem like the to go. The parking situation now is a deterrant.

Posted by FooE
a resident of Crescent Park
on Jun 29, 2017 at 11:03 pm

EPA ... please remember that at least according to the corporate propganda Fresh Market did not fail, the parent company pulled all its stores from California. So, you are making that up about why Fresh Market "failed" who can trust whatever else you say? I think its great that East Palo Alto is developing some business. If you play your cards right like Mountain View pretty soon you will have a nice environment and people than Palo Alto! ;-)

re PAPD -- not to split hairs, but "Stanford property" could mean the campus or could mean their properties within PA city limits like the shopping center or research park. PAPD does cover both, if the calls I hear on my scanner are any indication. Sounds like our units respond to plenty of late-night "suspicious circumstances" on campus proper.

Posted by TutuB
a resident of Leland Manor/Garland Drive
on Jul 14, 2017 at 12:12 pm

Yes, any news yet on opening?? I am at this center 3x a week and see no activity yet. Always concerning,
as I can't help but think this grocery deal will fall thru too! Fingers crossed! I hope we all will be advised
if this deal collapses, as well.

Also, r.e. the parking, it has eased a bit, since schools are out of session, but during the school year, it is basically a full lot!

Posted by TutuB
a resident of Leland Manor/Garland Drive
on Jul 18, 2017 at 10:58 am

Happy to report I saw a slew of construction/contractor vehicles on site yesterday and workers going in and out of the side door or the grocery. Whew! Seems to be really happening! SO tired of having that empty space!

Posted by musical
a resident of Palo Verde
on Jul 18, 2017 at 11:30 pm

The Palo Alto Golf Course may open in November also. Edgewood is sort of on the route over that direction. Speaking of long-term schedules, what ever happened to Wahlburgers on University? Sign out front still says "Opening Spring 2017". I guess that's an Elena Kadvany question, dating back to her Dec-2 blog post. Best of luck to Crystal Springs Produce; I'll be sure to check it out.